second Here’s the second in the Beyond E Learning series. This time I talk with Jay Cross about the learning revolution and how he sees the future. As the man who is credited with coining the term ‘e-learning’ I think Jay has some worthwhile insights into what might come next.
The context here is learning in the corporate environment. Jay emphasizes the importance of relating learning to performance. He talks a lot about ‘informal learning’ - in fact he has written an excellent book on the subject.
One point that struck me during the converssation was how the ChinesePod approach has much in common with Jay’s notion of informal learning, particularly as we both believe theat learning is best promoted through ‘natural’ methods.
Jay also blogged about the interview here.
Ken Carroll
Interesting interview with Jay, thanks for sharing.
I thought I’d reply simply because I find myself stuck between two worlds. Since I am a university foreign language professor, I’m obviously involved in traditional classroom settings. However, my own experience in language learning has been much more independent. Truth told, one of our biggest challenges is that we have created a structure where students are taught to be passive learners. For so long we have told students which courses to take, which books to buy, which chapters to read, and which questions will be on tests, etc. No wonder they ask “Do I need to know XYZ for this class?” To me the great thing about newer formats, such as those found in ChinesePod, is that we get learners out of the passive role and help them to become active learners. That is extremely positive. As to our role as teachers, I’ll save that for another day.
Orlando,
Good comments. I’ve talked here about the role of teachers as I see things going forward. http://blog.praxislanguage.com.....he-people/
Of course no-one really knows how this will all pan out. My view is that the role of the teacher (in high school, university, training, etc) will change, but definitely not disappear.
One guy who I greatly admire in this context is Will Richardson, who writes here http://www.weblogg-ed.com/ He writes about technology in the classroom and how mainstream education is coping (or not coping) with all the change that is going on around us. Will has kindly agreed to do a podcast interview in the next few days. Perhaps after that we could interview professor Orlando Kelm - I hear he also has some interesting insights on the subject!
Ken Carroll